When the final second ticked off the clock at last year's MLS Cup championship game, and elated Los Angeles Galaxy fans at the Home Depot Center rained streamers down on the victorious home team, league executives took notice.

The scene stood in stark contrast to the 2010 Cup in Toronto, where the grandstands were partially empty for the Colorado Rapids' overtime win against FC Dallas.

This year MLS abandoned the Super Bowl-style neutral venue for its championship game, instead granting home field to the finalist with the best regular-season record. The Galaxy, which finished the season 16-12-6, will face the Houston Dynamo in a rematch of the 2011 Cup Saturday at the Home Depot Center (ESPN live, 4:30 p.m,. ET).

"The home team deserves the honor of being able to play in front of their home crowd," said Commissioner Don Garber on Monday. Garber said the new format, "gives our TV audiences, both here and around the world, the opportunity really to show this really incredible atmosphere."

League officials said the change in format does bring sacrifices, such as a smaller sponsorship footprint, fewer attending media and a shorter window to sell tickets. Crews at the Home Depot Center had 13 days to ready the stadium for the title game, which meant installing bleachers to add 3,000 seats.

The two squads have a number of similarities. Both are owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group (the Dynamo are also partly owned by Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy promotions and businessman Gabriel Brener). Both clubs struggled through mediocre regular seasons in 2012, and slumped into the playoffs as wildcards. Both clubs then toppled playoff foes that, on paper, were stronger.

The Galaxy come into Saturday's final as favorites, with iconic midfielder David Beckham playing in his final game and captain Landon Donovan unsure about his future. The Galaxy struggled early in the season with a post-championship hangover that saw the team drop nine of its first 17. Star defender Omar Gonzales tore his ACL before the season. Toronto FC, the worst team in the league, knocked the Galaxy out of CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals in March. In May, Donovan first hinted he was considering retiring after 2013.

Midfielder Mike McGhee said morale was low in the Galaxy locker room.

"We were getting sick of saying we were sick of losing," McGhee said. "It came at a time where everyone started holding each other accountable."

The Galaxy rallied behind the scoring of Irish striker Robbie Keane in the second half of the season winning six of the final 10 games to snag a wild-card playoff spot. After falling behind the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 in the first of two semifinal games, the Galaxy won 3-1 to take the series on goal differential. The team then dominated the Seattle Sounders to earn a berth in the championship game.

"Our bad stretch lasted a little longer than we would have liked but in 2011 we had similar types of issues," said head coach Bruce Arena. "You just have to get together as a team and sort through those issues and help steer everyone in the right direction."

Houston enjoyed a less bipolar season, and briefly flirted with the top spot in the Eastern Conference before dropping into the wildcard playoff position. The Dynamo opened the season with seven road games as the club finished its new home stadium, BBVA Compass Stadium in downtown Houston.

Long heralded for their defense, the Dynamo have lacked offensive flair in previous seasons, and lost the 2011 MLS Cup 1-0 with little offensive showing. But in June, the team finished a yearlong negotiation to sign Honduran midfielder Oscar Boniek Garcia from Honduras'Club Olimpia.

Coach Dominic Kinnear said Garcia had two practices to learn the team's nuances before jumping into games. While Garcia's English is still a work in progress, Kinnear said, the Honduran picked up the team's style quickly, and has meshed well with the team's star midfielder Brad Davis and forward Will Bruin.

"He's a good signing,the stats don't lie: wins, goals-against, goals-for," Kinnear said. "(Garcia) patrols that right hand side, and he makes life tough for the opposing players on both sides of the ball."

The addition helped the Dynamo streak into the playoffs, and knock off the Eastern Conference's top seed Sporting Kansas City and DC United to earn a trip to the finals.

Dynamo goalie Tally Hall said he likes his team's chances against the Galaxy, even if the oddsmakers are giving the Galaxy home field advantage. The memory of last year's defeat, he said, should fuel his squad against the home team.

"I remember very well the feeling after the game — it wasn't pleasant, I didn't like it," he said. "I want to win."